The Tuition Fee

Chapter 37: Epilogue, December

Nathaniel 

When I close the front door of our apartment, the first thing I notice smell is chocolate chip cookies, followed quickly by the fully decorated Christmas  tree shoved in the corner of the living room by the back patio door.

"Nate!" Alina pops up over the counter, an apron tied around her with flour dusted on her face.  "You're home early." 

I shrug off my winter gear and look over the rest of the Christmas decorations Alina strung up while I was gone. Garland on the railing up to our bedroom, little Santa's on the bookshelves, and three stockings on the fireplace-- one for each of us and the calico cat currently winding her way around my ankles.  

"Bad weather coming so they sent me home." I wander over to her and drop a kiss on her cheek, winding my arms around her waist. "How was your day?" 

She gestures to the plates of cookies around her, a pleased smile on her face. "Productive. I got all the cookies done." 

I reach for one and she smacks my hand, making me laugh into her neck. She smells like chocolate and her rose perfume. I plant a kiss behind her ear, grinning when she shivers. "I'm sure the kids will love it." 

Alina got a job at the local high school shortly after we moved up to Boston as English teacher for juniors and seniors.  We were only halfway into the year, but I knew they loved her just as much as I did. I mean, she was baking cookies to feed a small army just to hand out to them all before Christmas break. If they didn't like her before, I don't know how they couldn't now. 

"We're tackling Shakespeare when they come back, it's a bribe," she jokes. She falls back to rest against my chest, reaching down to lace her fingers with mine. "What do you want to do for dinner? Can I bribe you with a cookie?" 

I laugh again and drop my hands a little lower on her hips, sliding my fingers beneath the waistband of her leggings. "I don't need a cookie to bribe me, just you." 

She huffs out a laugh and turns, leaning up to kiss me. "The cookies need to cool for twenty minutes. Don't touch until then." 

I return her kiss eagerly, pressing her into the counter before stepping back and offering a short salute. "Yes ma'am." 

She squeezes my arm and leaves me to the kitchen, taking a spot in her favorite chair by the fireplace and the Christmas tree where her book is waiting. 

I take a deep breath, turning back to look at the refrigerator. Okay. Minimum twenty minutes for me to get my shit together. 

I pull out ingredients for pasta and set to work on the dough, eager to use the pasta attachment her mother got me for my birthday. All the time outside of college actually taught me how much I loved to cook, especially for Alina. She loves my chicken alfredo, so that's what I set out to make tonight. 

With the pasta dough resting and the kitchen clean, I suck in a deep breath and shove my hand in my front pocket and pull out Alina's engagement ring. I'd swiped it from her vanity this morning while leaving for work, and was gratefully surprised she hadn't texted me in a panic to ask about it. When my work let out early, I went and got it cleaned, as shiny as it was when we first bought it five years ago. 

I pad my way to her chair and drop to my knee beside her, the Christmas tree at my back. "Alina," I say softly. 

She looks up from her book and then her eyes fall to the ring in my hand. "I knew you took it," she jokes lightly. Her eyes raise to mine and her eyebrows furrow at the serious expression on my face. "Nathan? What's wrong?" 

I let out another deep breath and reach for her hand, clasping it tightly in mine. "I want to do it right, Lins." My voice comes out a whisper and I squeeze her fingers tighter. "I want to do it the way I should've, the way you deserve. I want to tell you that I love you, and that you've become the best thing to wake up to and the last thing I think about when I fall asleep, and every thought in between. I want to tell you that I won't take you for granted, and that I'll keep the vow I made to your father to make sure you're happy every single day."

A tear rolls down her cheek and I clear my throat. I rehearsed this speech all day dammit, I'm not going to choke now. "I want to be the man you deserve, even knowing I might never reach that, but I'll be damned if I don't try. And I just want you to know that you're my whole world, Alina. There is not one part of life I ever want to go through without you by my side. I know we had a rough start, but I want to ask you again, for real this time, if you'll marry me." 

She's full on crying now and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't either. I'd been thinking about this for months,  actually since Reese proposed to Marissa. I wanted to ask Alina again for real because I wanted her to know I was truly in this to be end game. There would never be anyone for her but me. And I wanted to marry her. I wanted to be her husband, and I wanted to call her my wife. 

"Are you serious right now?" she breathes, holding her flushed cheeks. 

"Never so much in my whole life." I grip her hand, pulling it towards me. "I know it's cheesy to repropose, but I want to marry you, Alina. I want to be yours, forever." I slip the ring back onto her finger, in line with the tan line, without waiting for a yes. 

We stare at her hand for a minute before a sob escapes and she rockets forward to hug me, launching herself off the chair and pushing us to the ground. "Yes, of course it's yes, Nathan. It will always be yes." 

I roll, pinning her beneath me under the tree. The rainbow lights she strung up sparkle in her eyes and color her cheeks red. Her smile is brighter than the star on top and I lean down to capture her lips in a kiss. She wraps around me, holding me tight. "You've made me the happiest man in the world," I breathe against her neck. 

She shakes her head, pulling my face back to hers. "And you've made me the luckiest girl in the world. I love you, Nathan Crane, forever and always." And she seals it with a kiss.